Gov. Bobby Jindal: University Hospital and Clinics makes great strides in health care

Last week, I was joined by doctors, nurses, medical students, LSU officials and hospital officials at University Hospital and Clinics in Lafayette to celebrate the tremendous progress that's been made as part of the facility's new public-private partnership.

Although our state's unique charity hospital system did great work for decades, the changing landscape of health care and the evolving needs of patients required us to adapt and improve the services our hospitals offer.

These partnerships won't just maintain our safety net and improve care - they are on target to generate more than $125 million in savings for taxpayers this year, and we expect savings will only increase as the partnerships continue.

Here in Lafayette, the new public-private hospital has been open for nearly two months, and the doctors and nurses the community relies on are already making incredible progress.

From June 24 to July 31, UHC had more than 4,000 emergency visits, more than 800 inpatient days and more than 9,500 clinic patients in areas like internal medicine, family practice, infectious disease, cardiology, orthopedics, general surgery and oncology.

The number of surgeries has also risen steadily since the partnership went live. In mid-July, UHC added six more hours of operating room time per week, and through July 31, UHC completed over 200 surgeries.

Moreover, because of this historic partnership, UHC is opening eight additional inpatient beds and one additional operating room. The beds we were able to reopen were taken out of service by Lafayette's old charity hospital in 2012 due in part to a $1.8 billion dollar reduction handed down by Congress.

Now, because of this partnership, these beds and the operating room are coming back online to offer better care and more access to services for the Lafayette community.

Cancer and orthopedic treatments are also improving in the region as a result of this partnership.

UHC now has access to the Cancer Center of Acadiana through a previously existing partnership between the cancer center and Lafayette General. The Cancer Center of Acadiana at Lafayette General is an 18,000-square-foot center dedicated to those undergoing cancer and hematologic treatment.

Previously, new cancer patients at UHC had to wait as long as six months for an initial appointment with an oncologist. But because of our historic partnership, UHC was able to hire a new oncologist, and the management team is confident that the wait time and backlog in appointments will decrease significantly.

In addition, a new orthopedic surgeon has been hired at UHC, and patients who were previously referred to other hospitals outside the Lafayette area are now able to receive orthopedic services right here at home.

Although the partnership is greatly improving care in the region today, it is also laying the groundwork for better services in the future, too.

UHC is not just maintaining the graduate medical education program formerly administered by UMC, it is making it better.

The number of residents training in the Lafayette community has increased by 18, from 64 doctors under the old charity system to 82 doctors under the public-private partnership.

These doctors-in training are receiving a more robust medical training experience for residents in areas like anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, surgery and otorhinolaryngology, or ENT.

It's been shown that residents tend to stay in communities where they train, which means more doctors will be available to serve the Lafayette region because of this partnership.

Finally, UHC will begin construction on expansion of its emergency room facility, which is the fifth-busiest ER in Louisiana, and the partnership has aided Lafayette General's emergency department in its pursuit of Level II Trauma status. The Lafayette General Emergency Room will be the first-ever Level II Trauma Center in the Lafayette area.

Trauma II centers offer 24-hour immediate coverage by general surgeons, as well as healthcare in the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care, and the facility will offer clinical trauma experience for LSU graduate medical education residents.

All of these great changes are improving health care in Acadiana, leading to a better quality of life for our people. The progress made at UHC through the public-private partnerships in such a short time is nothing short of remarkable.

This partnership - and the other partnerships around the state - are truly transforming healthcare in Louisiana. The folks at Lafayette General Hospital, University Hospital and Clinics and LSU, Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Duel and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority should be commended for their work and support in making this historic partnership a reality.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal: University Hospital and Clinics makes great strides in health care

Last week, I was joined by doctors, nurses, medical students, LSU officials and hospital officials at University Hospital and Clinics in Lafayette to celebrate the tremendous progress that's been

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